COLUMN: A word with District Attorney Locke Bell

Published: Sunday, July 14, 2013 at 08:36 PM.

A. The phone number to my desk is 704-852-3139. I answer if I am at my desk and return all my calls if I am not there to answer.

Q. What’s a “good day” for you?

A. When I first put my feet on the floor in the morning, I thank God for another day of being alive. I get up at 6 a.m. to have time to myself (coffee, the paper, the garden). A good day at work is where things get done. I like seeing cases handled and not continued. After work, if I do not have a meeting, I am in the garden or woods until dark, and then reading until bedtime. I go to sleep early and my wife reads until very late. We have piles of books around the house.

Q. How do you run your office?

A. I like to set the rules, hire great people and then get out of the way and let them do their jobs. I enjoy working with them on cases, and I am there if they need me. But people cannot focus on their job looking over their shoulder. When someone tells me about a mistake they made, I like to point out that I have made bigger ones, so fix it and move on. I have a great staff.

Bill’s note: Today, we have questions and answers with Locke Bell, local district attorney. Read on:

Q. A brief biography?

A. I was born in Greensboro on May 26, 1950. I grew up there. I graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 1973 with a degree in religion. I graduated from Wake Forest School of Law in 1983. I am a member of First United Methodist Church. I am married to Mary Robin Bell. She is a clinical pharmacologist who works with the elderly. We live in the northwest part of the county in Crouse.

Q.You were in private practice. What got you into district-attorney action?

A. I ran for DA because I did not like the way the office was being run. I wanted better communication with the public, faster handling of cases and more effort to help deserving young people avoid a criminal record. I think we have accomplished this.

Q. Describe your office now — size of staff, where it’s located. How many assistant DAs?

A. We are located on the second floor of the courthouse. I have a staff of 27 with 14 assistant DAs and 13 support staff.

Q. When you took office, what were you sworn to do? Are you doing that?

A. The oath the District Attorney takes is “to have the criminal laws fairly and impartially administered.” The court goes further and states that the duty of the District Attorney is to “do justice.” It goes on to say that we must use our discretion in deciding what to prosecute and what punishment to seek. We try to look at the facts and situation of each case. One of the sad things is that often there is no justice for the victim. Nothing we can do will bring back a loved one. If a thief steals a family heirloom and pawns it, no amount of restitution can replace it. We can punish the criminal, but that does not make the victim whole. A good thing is how many young people we are able to work with to get them to straighten up and fly right.

Q. What is a typical day for you?

A. There is no typical day for me. Some weeks I am in trial. Other weeks I am in my office meeting with police, victims and their families and citizens. I spend time reviewing cases, training staff and doing case law research. I also have to check court calendars to ensure cases are getting tried. I leave the Tuesdays and Thursdays that I am not in court open for any citizen who wishes to come in and see me. Most days I leave the office between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Q. In college, you majored in religion. What redirected you into law?

A. I come from a family of lawyers going back to the early 1800s. We had pictures of dead lawyers hanging on the living room walls. My mother was a lawyer (As a kid, I said my mother spent most of her time prosecuting me). I was raised to be a lawyer, but I did not go directly into law after college. I was in youth work and taught school. Eventually law came back into my mind. I went to law school at 30.

Q.You win some cases and lose some. People don’t like to lose. This is serious business, dealing with people’s lives. Do you get many serious threats? How do you handle those you do get? Do you carry a gun?

A. I have never been threatened by a defendant. I try to treat everyone, even criminals, with respect. I may demand punishment, but I understand they are still people. Those who would most want to hurt me are in prison.

Q. What do you do to relax? Do you sleep well?

A. People see me at work wearing a suit and tie. When not at work, it is blue jeans and work shirts. I live on a farm. I love working on the land growing things, cutting wood, driving a tractor and walking the woods and fields. I can spend a few hours in the garden after a rough day of work and forget all about it. My wife says that the dirtier I get, the happier I get. She is right.

Q. What case do you remember the most vividly? Why?

A. I remember seeing the parents/grandparents of a man who had been murdered along with his son and wife sitting with the mother of the killer. It was a brutal murder where the bodies were left in the woods for animals to devour. I asked the parents how they could sit with the mother of the killer while he was being tried. They said that God demanded that they forgive. They had lost their son, and the mother of the killer was losing her son to life in prison. Each side was sorry for the other’s loss. God’s love conquered the pain and anger.

Q. Most painful case you ever had to deal with?

A.Sex abuse of children are the most painful cases to deal with — innocent children ravaged by adults who are usually family members. Often, the children are too young to testify, and if they do, telling what was done to them in front of a jury brings even more trauma.

Q. How would a person contact you, and will you respond?

A. The phone number to my desk is 704-852-3139. I answer if I am at my desk and return all my calls if I am not there to answer.

Q. What’s a “good day” for you?

A. When I first put my feet on the floor in the morning, I thank God for another day of being alive. I get up at 6 a.m. to have time to myself (coffee, the paper, the garden). A good day at work is where things get done. I like seeing cases handled and not continued. After work, if I do not have a meeting, I am in the garden or woods until dark, and then reading until bedtime. I go to sleep early and my wife reads until very late. We have piles of books around the house.

Q. How do you run your office?

A. I like to set the rules, hire great people and then get out of the way and let them do their jobs. I enjoy working with them on cases, and I am there if they need me. But people cannot focus on their job looking over their shoulder. When someone tells me about a mistake they made, I like to point out that I have made bigger ones, so fix it and move on. I have a great staff.

Q. What lies ahead for you?

A. I enjoy being District Attorney and will be running for re-election next year. I have no desire to hold any other office. At home, I have built walkways, planted young trees and shrubs and put in a pond. That needs lots of work. When I retire, I will simply go outside in the morning and not return until nightfall.